30 more countries express interest in joining AIIB: China

Beijing: Thirty more countries have applied for joining the China-sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank in which India is the second largest shareholder, the Foreign Ministry here said today.

Apart from 57 founding members, 30 more countries have applied to join the Beijing-based bank, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters while highlighting the bank's achievements on its first year of operations.

"As an initiator China is very pleased to see the progress made by the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the past year," she said, adding that the bank has emerged as an efficient and professional institution.

The AIIB was officially established late last year with 57 founding members and with authorised capital of USD 100 billion.

China is the largest shareholder with 26.6 per cent voting shares. India is the second largest shareholder with 7.5 percent followed by Russia 5.93 percent and Germany with 4.5 percent.

The interest shown by more countries to join AIIB is a demonstration of high recognition of the international community in the efficiency and prospects of the bank, Chunying said.

The US and Japan, however, stayed away from joining the bank while Germany and most of the European countries joined it.

"China has committed to the multilateral procedures, rules on the one hand and push for standardisation of operations. On the other hand, we have advanced AIIB to be based on the real needs of the developing countries in Asia and improve its professional capacity to jointly promote the connectivity and make positive contribution to the global and regional property," she said.

Last June, the bank approved its first four loans, totalling USD 509 million to fund power, housing and transportation projects in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Tajikistan.